Checkout 51 – Cash-back mobile application

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The Checkout 51 app allows users to save on anything from snacks to cleaning products

In summer 2012, entrepreneurs Pema Hegan, Andrew McGrath and Noah Godfrey took it upon themselves to alter the grocery shopping experience to benefit all. Subsequent to a series of beta tests with coupon-trading groups and after seeing a myriad of positive responses, the three launched Checkout 51 — a cash-back mobile application primarily for grocery and hygiene products — in December of that year.

“We were looking at how people saved and grocery shopped. At the time, we realized that the idea of couponing hadn’t really changed much in a hundred years,” co-founder Godfrey says. “Effectively, there hadn’t been much innovation in couponing, and we realized there was a lot of pain and friction in the whole process.” Godfrey alludes to the inconvenience and time-consuming nature of traditional couponing — how shoppers have to seek out offers, find deals, print them out and physically take them to the store. That’s all changed with Checkout 51. “I think we have a big impact on the grocery-shopping experience,” Godfrey says. “We hear from our members every day who write in to us and tell us how, because of Checkout 51, we’ve made their lives better.”

The Checkout 51 app is free to download and to create an account. Every Thursday morning, the list of offers refreshes and updates. Users can select the offers that appeal to them and buy those products at any store. Users must upload a photo of their receipt, select the items and quantity they’ve purchased, and they are then credited with cash back to their account when the data has been processed. “It’s really about ease of use and a wide selection of offers,” Godfrey says. Brands on the Checkout 51 app include Natrel, Raisin Bran and Pepto-Bismol (to name a few).